Book excerpt: "The intent of this book is to shift from a top-down to a bottom-up perspective in the way that we understand ethnocultural communities. The book outlines the Skills Identification Stage Model (SISM) as initially proposed by Parham (2002) to establish specific skills in working with African American communities. In addition to highlighting the original African American model, the book has adapted the model to highlight its utility with the Asian, Latino, Native, and Middle Eastern American communities. Each specific ethnocultural community is addressed with case examples to highlight the model's implementation. In addition, the book addresses how the content can be integrated into the classroom and how it can help students develop the needed skills to respond to the needs of ethnocultural communities. The book also addresses future implications for education, training, practice, and research and elaborates on the multiple perspectives in attempting to understand, and further develop, a multicultural framework"--Provided by publisher.